King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella

The Good
The story centers on Rosella, daughter of King Graham, who must find a cure for her father as well as stop the evil witch Lolotte from ruling the land. As always a knowledge of fairy tales will help in solving the game's puzzles. The game was the first in Sierra's new SCI engine which was a significant improvement from the old AGI engine. The music finally supports sound cards so another big improvement there. This installment also has a day-night cycle, one of the first games to implement this. There are two possible endings to this adventure. All in all a huge step forward in adventure game design.

The Bad
There are still the Sierra gotcha! instant kills but they are not as bad as previous games. Walking on paths & climbing are still dangerous to you. one wrong move equals death. Good luck climbing that whale's tongue! Also there is a plot critical item that will not be found without a walkthrough (the bridle).

The Bottom Line
The cream of the crop for 80s Sierra games, girls really do get it done in adventure games.